Next gen consoles will be maxed out in within an hour

The Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 will be maxed out by developers within an hour, Hitman: Absolution game director Tore Blystad has said.

"Every time you get a new piece of hardware, within an hour you max it out as a developer; that's just how it is," he explained. "You keep pushing it right to the max, every time a new system comes out you have to make a bucket for who is getting what from the memory and performance. Is the audio getting a lot? The animation? The A.I.? They're fighting for resources and this fight is very healthy because it will make people optimize the different elements of the game.

"Of course, it's great to get more power, but it's very quickly going to be sucked up by any kind of part of development. That's always the problem, right?"

No they won't. What people don't understand is it ALL depends on the game engine and the developers. That's why Uncharted 1 looked great...and then U2 looked even better. Oh, and then U3 looked amazing. But wait, The Last of Us somehow looks better than U3.

It's all about refining the game engine and being clever with what you have to work with. There will always be a better way to do *something*, that will lead to improvements.

has a valid point. I mean we can look at the quality of games that launch with a platform and compare them with the ones at or near its end.

Its the same hardware from start to finish but the programming got better because they learned how to wring out more textures on screen or find tricks to compensate for any restrictions.

It has been this way for years. Just compare the graphical fidelity of a game like altered beast on the genesis to a game like rangerX. Yeah they are totally different types of games but they are made to play on the same hardware. The level of detail on rangerX and amount of scrolling is above and beyond what they thought the platform could do when it was released.

It takes time and dedication but we are seeing a development cycle where WE as gamers are getting pushy for releases instead of letting these guys finish their product. It could also be the pressure of the bigger companies to meet deadlines forcing these devs to cut corners as well.

i feel bad for the real hard workers (the programers) because they are stuck in the middle. They are being tasked with making a quality product but as cheap as they can. Which is what usually leads to improving on a formula they previously used. Refining and optimizing their code to do stuff that it hadnt before or do it better than before.

As to the next gen hardware, I think people will really be surprised when it does not represent the typical generational leap in specs but is more in line with converging more features into one box than before.

we are in a modern society of convenience and playing games on these machines has been the same for over 30 years. Consumers are wanting more than that and just by looking at the additions to the ps3 and 360 we can see they really like a platform that does more.

A bump in specs...yes, but the real difference is the more these platforms can provide as a service to the consumer.

There are loads of games that look better this side of the console lifespan than the beginning of it because developers get better with the hardware as time goes on. Not sure what this guys on about to be honest =/ lol

I understand what he is talking about, it will be maxed out in a hour in a way... but still over a time developers will learn to use it more professional, optimize and learn new ways to do same stuff with eating less system resources.. he meant that if you make game in a fast lazy way, you can max out anything...

I haven't read the article because the sensationalism title was all I needed to see to know what the author was trying to accomplish. Of course the devs will max out (or come close) with first-gen games. It's like build...well...anything. The first time will always take longer, not look quite as good, and cost more. With each revision you learn new ways to do "this" or "that". There really was no need for the article author to point out the obvious.

@first post Third party devs only optimize to a certain degree. So in a way he is right.

3rd party devs rely more on raw power.

Assassins creed 3 is on pc,ps3,xbox 360 & now wiiU. Also they said they plan to support ps3 & 360 after ps4 and 720 are out. http://www.playstationlifes...

So they will be developing for pc, ps3, 360, ps4, 720 & wiiU.

Imagine them trying to be clever and really learn everything about each piece of hardware. This would cost more time and money & probably wouldn't make them more money(keep in mind next gen development cost).

Also as far as playstation goes. They will know the hardware form day1.

fun fact: only Hard Drives in the world that come in 256gb are ssd's..

so Basically I am saying if the consoles are not powerful enough the 3rd party devs that have to do more than 1st party devs will hit there potential limit fast.

1st party developers will always have the best looking games since they work only with one piece of hardware. If bethesda was only working on ps3 the ps3 version of skyrim would be less buggy I guarantee you that.

I could be wrong but I really doubt the UE4 and Luminous Engine will be pushed to their full potential on the PS4 and 720, just based on the leaked specs of both consoles and based on what we've seen from both engines.

I get the feeling that 3rd party devs will have to do A LOT of optimization to get the most out of the next gen consoles for truly next-gen games. Also, expect multiplatform titles down-scaled from the 720 and PS4 to look like utter garbage on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

I dont think you understand what he means, its not about how good it looks its about pushing the machines to the max. It can be done easily, and it will be done so that they know what they are working with.

When we get a new car we put it on spin barrels and see how fast it goes. Once we know how fast it goes we know what we're working with. However, to get to our destination it will take a few rides before we learn the fastest routes. Similarly how it takes a few games to get the best out of a console.

@syngamer Even engine optimization has its limits because of the Law of Diminishing Returns.. I agree with you, however, that Mr. Blystad (of Hitman) is over-generalizing the truth about "maxing out" the next gen.

The article below is a great description of the limits of engine optimization:

Good article. This is exactly why I hope the PS4 rumors are true. 1080p 60fps & 3D. If Sony can give developers hardware that can *easily* achieve those targets, then I have high hopes for next-gen. A lot of developers were quoted saying they wish the current-gen consoles had more RAM. And I'm sure they still want more with the new consoles, but really, it's all about the CPU and how much data can be processed.

Real-time calculations are generally "faked" because the current consoles just don't have enough processing power to do that AND output at 720p 30fps, let alone 1080p 60fps and in 3D. I'm not saying next-gen will be 100% real-time calculations, but it sounds like we'll be in for a treat. Especially considering the SDKs should be far more mature this time around than they were early on for the 360 and PS3.

Ultimately, the developers will still "max out" the next-gen consoles, and returns will diminish, but to claim this will happen within the first hour is just...talking out of his ass.

That's not untapped power in PS3. Those games you mentioned are simple with linear game design. Sony can even make The Last Of Us 2 look better than 1 if they take the AI character out of the game and make the corridor game even tighter.

Shiny paint has little to do with what people are talking about related to console capability.

GTA4, GTA5, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, Halo @4, Horizon, Watchdogs and other games like that are true technical marvels and is in the end what devs are talking about and not Silent Hill type static, linear games.